Burglar to get his 83,000 pounds from police

London, April 6 (IANS) A burglar in Britain has been allowed to keep 83,000 pounds (about $132,000) found at his home after he convinced the judge that it was the proceeds of car boot sales.

Police sought to have the cash confiscated after finding over 30,000 pounds in a biscuit tin and over 52,000 pounds in a wardrobe -- next to stolen jewellery, The Sun reported.

Craig Tolley, 23, of New Milton, a market town, admitted taking the jewellery in two burglaries in Romsey, a market town.

But he told Southampton Magistrates' Court that the money found was actually the profit made over ten years from boot sales in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods.

District judge Lorraine Morgan accepted that it was his "hobby" and ordered the Hampshire police to pay him 7,500 pounds in court costs.

Meanwhile, Tolley was awarded one-year suspended jail sentence for stealing the jewellery.